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Bears look to garner first home victory in game against Hofstra

The Cal lacrosse team needs to get back on track before its next game this Sunday.

The Bears have been struggling with errors in decision-making and execution for the past week. However, at noon this Sunday, Cal (3-4, 2-2 in the MPSF) will need to alter their performance when they go head-to-head with nonconference opponent Hofstra (2-5) at Witter Field.

Cal’s past two games turned out to be extremely disappointing matches for the Bears, as they ended up with a 14-13 loss against Boston University and a 16-13 loss against Denver. In the first half of both games, Cal demonstrated how closely matched it was with its opponent, even showing its slight upper hand with draw controls. However, due to a powerful opposing defense and second halves tainted by unforced turnovers, the Bears came out of their previous games with two consecutive losses.

“We felt that we were fairly evenly matched,” coach Ginger Miles said. “There were moments where we were definitely in a position to win and be successful, but we just let those moments slip away from us.”

After the team’s game on Wednesday, the coaching staff decided to change up its regular routine. Instead of taking the team out to Witter Field for their usual Thursday practice, the coaches had the Bears watch a film and then undergo sports psychology to hone in on specific aspects that characterized the Bears’ past two games. The coaching staff hopes to determine how they should prepare physically and mentally for Cal’s upcoming game against Pride on Sunday.

“We just want to dig a little deeper and talk about what’s been going on over the past two games to see what we can do to improve for our future games,” said Miles.

The Bears have been working on discipline and consistency, specifically with execution in their error-prone second halves. Cal hopes to eliminate its poor and impulsive passing, which has led to many unforced turnovers.

“There are some things that don’t kill us during practice but that absolutely kill us during our games,” Miles said. “We’ve just got to make sure we’re holding ourselves accountable day in and day out and practice for those little things that affect our games.”

With the constant encouragement from the new coaching staff, the Bears expect to come out of their two-loss slump and finally garner a home victory.

“We’ve shined at moments and we’ve seen glimmers of what this team is capable of,” Miles said. “But we have yet to play with the discipline, the execution required to win these games against quality opponents.”